19. Using the data, make up a story about a great Russian chemist. N.N. Zinin (1812-1880)

1. N.N. Zinin was born in Azerbaijan, 1812.

2. The Saratov gymnasium, 1820 and the Kazan University, 1830.

3. The golden medal, the Doctor of Science, 1833. (The degree, to be awarded for research in science).

4. A teacher of chemistry (the Kazan University), 1835.

5. His researches and scientific works. (“The phenomena of chemical affinity’, 1836; “The combinations of benzol”, 1841; “The discovery of anilin”, 1842; “Nitroglycerine and its properties”, 1869).

6. His work abroad. (In Paris and London, 1838-1841).

7. The president of Russian Chemical Society, 1868.

N.N. Semyonov (1826-1986)

1. The greatest chemist in the world, a well-known physicist and academician.

2. His childhood in Saratov, his study in the Petersburg University.

3. His work in Petersburg, the professor of the Petersburg polytechnical institute, the director of the institute of chemical physics, 1931.

4. The editor of the magazine “Chemical physics”, the member of many academies of science and scientific societies, several premiums.

5. His great contribution to science, his scientific works “The theory oh the chain reactions” (“The theory of the thermal explosion”).

20. Accordiny to these plans prepare the reports about such Russian chemists as a.M. Butlerov, n.N. Beketov, n.D. Zelinsky, s.V. Lebedev, a.E. Favorsky. Additional Texts

Text I

Experimental Chemistry (1748-1757)

On assuming his -duties as professor of chemistry, Lomonosov began to plan the construction of the first scientific chemical laboratory in Russia, which was opened in October 1748. Its equipment included balances, so that quantitative methods could be introduced into chemistry and the general law of conservati­on proven experimentally. Although Lomonosov did not completely suspend work in theoretical physics, he began to turn his inte­rest to the experimental chemistry that he was just learning to do. His first chemical work, on the origin¹ and nature of salt­peter² (1749), presents the results of laboratory experiments to­gether with theoretical speculation on the nature of mixed bo­dies (chemical compounds) and of chemical affinity³. The latter were based on Lomonosov's kinetic interpretation of heat. In a paper on the usefulness of chemistry read to the Academy in 1751, he spoke of the problems of chemistry and of training chemists, noting that the discipline "requires a highly skilled practical worker and a profound mathematician in the same person". Thus, Lomonosov worked toward elevating chemistry to the level of a genuine theoretical, rather than a purely empirical, science. Pointing to the practical importance of chemistry, he challen­ged the dogma that useful minerals - especially precious metals in rocks - do not'exist in northern countries.

In 1752 Lomonosov implemented⁴ his ideas on the training of chemists by drawing up a program of instruction in physics de­signed for young students. In an introductory note he wrote, "The study of chemistry has a dual⁵ purpose⁶ advancing⁷ the natural sciences and improving⁸ the general welfare⁹. He la­ter set forth in detail the theoretical and empirical aspects of this science, considering that physical chemistry explains "on the basis of the ideas and experiments of physics what ta­kes place in mixed bodies under chemical operations".

Lomonosov’s surviving laboratory notes and journals testify to the number and variety of experiments that he himself performed¹⁰. In his journal for 1751, for example, he reported on the results of seventy-four reagents and on their mutual interactions ¹¹ with various solvents¹², on his experiments on the pro­duction of glass, on his work with various powders¹³, and on his investigations of a large number of chemical reactions. From 1752 to 1756 he took notes on physical-chemical experi­ments with salts and liquids and on the freezing (crystalliza­tion) of liquids. In 1756, following up Boyle's experiments on the heating of metals in closed containers, he found that when air is not admitted¹⁴ into the vessel¹⁵, the total weight¹⁶ of the vessel and its contents remains constant - another con­firmation¹⁷ of the general law of conservation as it applies to the total weight of chemically reacting substances. "My che­mistry", he wrote in the same year, "is physical".

Lomonosov returned to the study of electrical phenomena in 1753, when he resumed experiments on atmospheric electricity. With G.V. Richmann he attempted to discover methods of con­ducting lightning and wrote "A Word on Atmospheric Phenomena Proceeding Prom Electrical Force". Richmann was killed while conducting experiments during a thunderstorm, but Lomonosov continued his researches and drew up a syllabus for further study. In 1756 he compiled 127 notes on the theory of light and electricity, presented a mathematical theory of electricity, and read a paper on the origin of light and on a new theory of colors that constitute it to a public meeting of the Academy. His reflections on the relation between mass and weight (1757) led him to the idea that another concept of measurement, per­haps that of weight, should be introduced as an expression of mass.

Lomonosov was also busy with practical projects. Having un­dertaken research on the production of glass, he turned to the revival of mosaic as an art form. In 1752 he presented a work .on this subject to Czarina Elizabeth and introduced into the Duma a proposal¹⁸ to establish mosaic factories in Russia. In the same year he wrote a poem on the usefulness of glass, in which he contrasted glass and objects made of it with Man's lust for gold. In 1753 Lomonosov received permission to build factories "for making varicolored glass and beads" and was gi­ven an estate near Moscow for this purpose. He built a mosaic workshop¹⁹, with an attached chemical and optical laboratory, in St.Petersburg in 1756 and between 1761 and 1764 designed a large mosaic mural²⁰, the Battle of Poltava. Executed after his death, it is now in the Academy of Sciences in Leningrad. In 1754 he demonstrated at the St.Petersburg Academy a model of an"aerodrome machine" that he had invented and sent to I.I.Shuvalov his project for creating a university in Moscow, which was opened at the beginning of 1755.

During this period Lomonosov was especially active in his­tory, philosophy, and literature. In 1751 an edition of his collected poems and prose works was published by the Academy of Sciences. His Russian grammar (1755-1757) was an important reform of the Russian language.

¹ origin – происхождение

² saltpeter -селитра

³ affinity - свойство

⁴ implement - осуществлять

⁵ dual - двойной

⁶ purpose –цель

⁷ advancing –развитие

⁸ improving –улучшение

⁹ welfare –благосостояние

¹⁰ perform – проводить

¹¹ interactions - взаимодействия

¹² solvents – растворители

¹³ powders -.порошки

¹⁴ admit –впускать

¹⁵ vessel –сосуд

¹⁶ weight –вес

¹⁷ confirmation- подтверждение

¹⁸ proposal - предложение

¹⁹ workshop - мастерская

²⁰ mural - фреска